Adolf Hitler a war hero? Anything but, said first world war comrades

Unpublished letters and diaries from List regiment soldiers portray Hitler as a loner, an object of ridicule and 'a rear area pig'.

Adolf Hitler's rabid antisemitism and virulent nationalism were not directly prompted by his experiences on the western front in the first world war, historical research suggests.

Unpublished letters and a diary written by veterans of Hitler's wartime regiment are among newly unearthed documents that challenge previous notions about how the conflict shaped the future dictator's views.

The documents overturn Hitler's subsequent portrayal of his unit, the List regiment, as united in its intolerance and antisemitism, with Hitler "a hero at its heart". They challenge long-held views on Hitler's supposedly brave war record, revealing that frontline soldiers shunned him as a "rear area pig" based several miles from danger. The papers also disclose that List men saw Hitler as an object of ridicule, joking about him starving in a canned food factory, unable to open a tin with a bayonet. He was viewed by his comrades in regimental HQ as a loner, neither popular nor unpopular.

They noticed that he did not indulge in their favourite pastimes – letter-writing or drinking – but was instead often seen reading a political book or painting, earning him the sobriquet the "painter" or the "artist". He was also viewed as particularly submissive to his superiors....